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Friday, March 25, 2011

After a disastrous week (don't ask!), I totally messed up some sewing last night {phew - at least it wasn't the circles for Floh! I'll show the mess next time...to keep things real :)}. So I desperately need something to make me a bit happy...well, sweets always help!

And finally settled on the fabrics for the Doll Quilt Swap 10 on Friday, although I haven't solved my dilemma ~ I've 2 ideas which are completely different in design & "feel". One is quite cute & whimsical and more objective, while the other is abstract and more "adult-y". At the moment, I tend towards the latter, because this is more challenging, new techniques to try, while the first idea would be perfect, because there's a lot of "me" in the design.

I'm sorry I can't show you the particular sketches, because I think they're quite specific and I don't want my partner to find out right now :).

Friday, March 18, 2011

Today there will be no FFF...instead, I wanted to point out a wonderful fundraiser: Elizabeth Hartman of Oh, Fransson! is giving away her fabulous Tokyo Subway Map quilt. To be eligible, you have to make a donation to the American Red Cross ~ unfortunately, the site couldn't process my data - maybe because I'm, outside the US??? Or it's just my card??? - but I donated anyway via the German Red Cross website.

I'm utterly shocked because of the catastrophe in Japan and still can't quite comprehend it. I feel for the people who are affected by the triple disaster...

Friday, March 11, 2011

You wouldn't believe, but sometimes I am able to restrain from buing the entire line of fabrics..although they're really cool. I tried my best to choose wisely - thinking stashbuilders - from "City Weekend" by Lisl Gibson of oliver+s and MoMo's "It's a Hoot".

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Today was an exciting day. Today, the Berlin Modern Quilt Guild met for the first time! Initially, there were only 4 of us planning & starting the group, but in the end we were whopping 8 quilt-a-holics showing up at the meeting.

It was fun to get to know each quilter and an extensive show & tell was held, where we could enjoy Miriam's beautiful poem quilt, Tacha's famous hexie pillow, or the colorful quilt sewn by Hedi.

My head is still full of all those impressions... I can't seem to tell all what happened. I've done a little recap at the BMQG blog, but only in German...in short, after a introduction, an extensive show & tell followed, then we did a little charm square swap, a little mug rug giveaway for those who brought something for s&t {unfortunately I haven't got a single picture of this mug rug...bummer}, some curve sewing...and then the time was over too soon!

Friday, March 4, 2011

January and February went by and March has just begun (BTW, the first month in the ancient Roman calendar was March ~ so maybe I pretend it's the first month of the fabric year, too? Totally unrelated...but this happens when you're online past midnight in the middle of the week).

How did I fare with my diet?

Well, the first 2 weeks were a bit hard, but preparing the FFF & adding stuff to shopping carts - and deleting them in the end somehow helped :) (please, don't tell me that I need a 12 step program!).

The weekly FA meetings...eh...check-ins at Angela's helped, too. It was very satisfying to report another successful week.

Only once I failed... {but as I actually started before Jan. I still can say that I met my goal}...it was for some D. Schmidt (Katie Jump Rope) fabrics, which aren't here yet. So maybe they don't count anyway :).

I always wanted to make a Paintbox quilt like Elizabeth's. Or a Tokyo Subway Map Quilt, also by Elizabeth Hartman. Or a beautiful Color Wheel Quilt...

But despite having a considerable stash, I'm still missing (print) fabrics to cover the whole spectrum - this is what I want to concentrate for future purchases...not strictly, but keep my eyes open for a more balanced stash. The Katie Jump Rope fabrics will fit the bill perfectly!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Hmpf. Again late. One day...almost 2 when I'm finished writing this post. I had the best intentions on Sunday afternoon to piece the block for Tacha (Hanies). Unfortunately I got sick after my chores were done.

But why did I - again - waited so long? It definitely wasn't the fabric.

The fabrics are gorgeous! I loved the colors...and yay! Working for the first time with Heather Ross' cotton/linen blend...fun!

But everytime I made up my mind, which could meet Tacha's "criteria", someone else of the group had done something similar so much more cleverly - look!

This is my try on Tacha's Block. I used a GO!die (Rob Peter to Pay Paul) and added some borders around it. To fit the center square into the curved square, I extended its edges with a yellow Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird) print.

I even added piping...I'll definitely do this kind of embellishment again!

Fortunately, I had the grey Hope Valley print in my stash so when I ran out of that fabric, I could still add the full outer border.